I've worked with several women who had injuries to one breast and couldn't heal or tolerate the repeated mastitis (to which they were more vulnerable given the inflammation from the injuries). My approach (working in concert with a breast surgeon in one case, and the OB in the other 2 cases) is to suggest a unilateral weaning. The doctors weren't sure that was possible because they assumed that the hormones would equally affect both breasts. I explained to them the endocrine and autocrine control for bfg. Long term milk maintenance is, luckily, an autocrine (or milk removal dependant) process. Hormones don't play much role in lactopoesis. Consequently, doing a very gradual wean down is the way to proceed, sometimes with assistance from maintenance doses of antibiotics until the worst of the engorgement related issues subside. In the cases I worked with, the injured breast weaned, and the other remained productive, allowing the mother to continue breastfeeding. Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC Austin Lactation Associates LactNews Press www.lactnews.com *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html